Who You Really Are

Shadowrun + Atomic Robo

The Gamemaster

Human Conspirator (Technomancer)

Description:

According to Lone Star’s official documentation, “The Gamemaster” is a fabrication of the hacking community. Something like signing your work “Anonymous,” “John Doe,” or “Alan Smithee,” it’s a way to avoid taking credit for jobs that made people really angry. In the notably reputation-centric world of Matrix specialists, blaming “The Gamemaster” is admitting that you got lucky doing as much damage as you did and don’t have the skillz to take the heat that’s about to fall on your head.

That’s the official story. It’s the explanation for why “The Gamemaster” shows up as reason number one on the letter that convinced the corporate council to adopt the most recent Matrix security upgrades, and for why jobs signed “The Gamemaster” tend to have counter-deckers going after the usual suspects rather than looking for the “real” source.

Anyone in the Seattle shadows for any length of time begins to get the sense that the official story is face-saving drek. Ask any local hacker whether they’ll sign their work “The Gamemaster” in a pinch, and they’ll look at you like you’re out of your mind. Bad things happen to deckers that put that name on their own jobs. If the Gamemaster is more than a single individual, it’s well-orchestrated group that doesn’t appreciate other hackers trying to horn in on its territory.

And sooner or later, if you’re local to Seattle and you’re any good, there will be an untraceable message in your commlink with a job offer from the Gamemaster. If you take it, just be sure that the authorities won’t use you as their latest scapegoat for the biggest Matrix bogeyman in the world.